World Championship challenger D Gukesh played out a hard-fought draw with Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, while fellow Indian R Praggnanandhaa shared points with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in the second round of the Superbet Chess Classic, a part of the Grand Chess tour.

On a day when a rare blunder deprived top seed Fabiano Caruana of his second straight win against compatriot Wesley So, Frenchman Alireza Firouzja launched his campaign with a win over Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan.